Cloak and Dagger
by Eternal Contradiction
Summary: Our king says his sister didn’t survive the fall, but local legend dictates that she did, and will some day return to save her people from her brother’s tyrannical control.  They say that she will rise with an army of men and reclaim her heritage. 1xR
1. Underground Movement

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Prologue: Underground Movement_

* * *

A/N: Apparently, this story needs some explanation, though I would love to just present it as is. This is AU in almost every definition of the term: the world I am describing is not real, and the characters (particularly Milliardo, more on this later) could have moments of OOC because they have quite different backstories than their original GW counterparts. That being said, I've written Relena and Heero as true to form as possible, so I hope all this talk of the characters being "out of character" doesn't put you off this story. That would be a shame, but your loss. 

Thanks to **Trumpet-Geek** for Beta-ing for me; I actually took her suggestions 3/4ths of the time. I appologize for that 1/4, but a gal has to stand by her writing on occasion, even if it does lack sense.

* * *

_Sanq Kingdom – 5th Year of King Milliardo's Reign_

"I'm looking for Father Maxwell," she said quietly to the man behind the counter of the bar. He had a lit cigarette dangling from his lips, the ashes occasionally dribbling into the glasses of liquor he was pouring. Without moving his mouth, he nodded towards the back of the room. She thanked him politely, though his directions were about as helpful as a written text to the illiterate, and moved further into the dank tavern. Once she moved farther from the front door, she realized that the curt nod of the barkeep's head couldn't have been more concise.

She had finally located the elusive Father Maxwell surrounded by drunken bar patrons as he told a tale which had his audience enraptured.

"… and so she stood on the precipice of the cliff, watching as her brother walked towards her with the news of their father's death. She was fifteen and knew relatively nothing of the world, but the people adored her kindness and her spirit as much as they despised the prince's cruelty. It didn't hurt that she was also beautiful. They say that Princess Relena's smile broke that day as her brother told her the news. No one knows if it was an accident and she took one step too far backwards, or if she fainted at the news, or perhaps something far more sinister which I will refrain from mentioning for fear of treason, but witnesses say she let out a cry and tumbled backwards over the cliff, down into the deep waters and treacherous rocks below. Our king says his sister didn't survive the fall, but local legend dictates that she did, and will some day return to save her people from her brother's tyrannical control. They say that she will rise with an army of men and reclaim her heritage. To Princess Relena," Duo saluted with his drink, downing the frothy liquid in a healthy gulp.

"Princess Relena," his crowd echoed.

"Father Maxwell," the woman said intrusively, using the cover of the tale to slip to his side, "I need to speak with you on an urgent matter."

"What need is urgency when one has good drink, and good company?" Duo proclaimed, amid a claim of general agreement from his fellow drunks. "Come see me at the church on the morrow, when I am more sober and less drunk."

"This is unrelated to church matters," she hissed, her voice lowering to a point where even she could barely hear it. She observed from his manner as he sat straighter and with interest that he knew what she was saying. "I've been sent by Trowa."

Duo stood abruptly, his manner changing as his cloak fell heavily along his shoulders, and in that moment she could see the Obsidian Knight he was rumoured to be. She followed silently as he abruptly left the tavern and hurried down the street. She didn't speak again until he sequestered the two of them in the back room of an empty store.

"You have news?"

"No. He has nothing further to add to his last missive." The woman pulled a small bag out of the front of her bodice. "He says you are the man to see about renewing my business now that I have moved into the capital." She shook the contents of her pouch into her hand, revealing a glitter of cut diamonds.

"I am not a businessman," Father Maxwell responded with a suspicious narrowing of his eyes. "Barton knows this."

"I am not selling," she said. "Think of it as a charitable contribution to your parish. My only suggestion is that you handle them with care, and very, very quietly."

"Ah," Duo said with a grin, "that kind of business. What cut do you want?"

"I'm not selling," she reiterated. "I want nothing for these jewels but the knowledge that they are feeding those who cannot feed themselves, clothing those –"

"I've heard the drill," Duo said, fingers grasping around the gems now safely resecured within cloth. "Where does Trowa find you self-sacrificing people? First stories of his pet thief started reaching town, and suddenly more and more people like the idea of taking from the rich and giving to the poor."

"Do you really believe there are two of us?" The woman asked, adjusting the hood covering her head nervously, as though she remembered for the first time that she was keeping her identity hidden. Quickly, realizing what she was doing, she turned on foot sharply and headed for the door. "I only ask one thing in return for my services."

"Ah, that's more like it." Duo muttered, his faith in human nature once again renewed.

"I want news of my arrival to spread." She smiled, and it flashed beneath the strange, hollow shadow of her cloak. "I want men to know my name when I rob them; I want to be feared. And when I bring the nobility of this country down around their ears, I want King Milliardo to know who brought about his demise."

There was a pause.

"Long live Queen Relena," she finished. And she was gone like a flickering candle in the wind.

* * *

©RelenaFanel.Sept19.2007

"But where's the _Edge of the Chase_ update you promised us?" you ask. "Valid question," I explain, "unfortunately, my laptop power cord died and I have no battery on my computer, so all my files are inaccessable."

Which is a shame, but then I never would have wrote this.


	2. Alive

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Chapter 1: Alive_

"Are you looking forward to today?"

Relena put down the book she had been reading, holding her page with one finger as she turned her head towards the voice which had interrupted her study of medieval romances. "Today?" she asked quietly, staring down the impetuous girl she assumed was her new handmaiden.

"The coming out ceremony," the other girl exclaimed, taking a seat across from the princess.

"Why would I anticipate something which would bring attention to myself in such a way? I assure you, Miss –"

"Hilde."

"— Miss Hilde, that I am neither excited nor am I pleased that my brother has decided to take me out of hiding and present me to the country as their long-lost little princess."

"But surely-" Hilde turned her bright blue eyes on Relena, and the blond had the urge to fidget beneath the gaze.

"Surely," Relena mocked, "they don't want to see me. I've heard the ballads they sing in my honour, the whispers behind closed doors that if only I would step forward they would fight for my place as Queen. All their hope rests on my shoulders." Relena laughed bitterly. "I'm supposed to support the weight of this country when I can't even support my own weight."

"They love you," Hilde responded, subdued.

"They love a false idol in the image of a fifteen year old child." Her words were harsh, and the intense anger on her face hid an underlying resentment. "My brother knows what he is doing. The name Princess Relena is synonymous with hope and in introducing me to the people, he is taking that away from them. It is something they can't afford to lose."

"To lose!" Hilde exclaimed, her features becoming fierce as she prepared herself for a tirade of opinion.

"Leave me," Relena dismissed, cutting short anything the other woman could say and resuming her book. Shielded by the pages, she watched as Hilde's face contorted from hurt confusion, to anger, and finally ended at mild hate. The satisfaction of turning at least one of her followers against her was short-lived as she was left alone once again.

Hours later found Relena seated in one of the lesser thrones in the Great Hall. She was alone in the room to reflect on what was coming that afternoon. Her pale, thin hand nervously played with the folds in her simple white dress while no one was watching, and she observed servants scurrying about the dais as they prepared seats for the nobility. From without, Relena could already hear the gathering crowd of peasants who would watch the proceedings at a distance.

Slowly, the lords and ladies began to take their seats, sending curious glances at the woman who was seated beside the King's throne. Relena ignored them all, but was unable to draw her attention away from one of the soldiers who walked through the door with a purposeful stride. She was horrified to note that he noticed her attention and moved towards her, and even more dismayed when she recognized the unique frost of his dark blue eyes.

"Princess," he said respectively, bowing on one knee before her. "I am glad to-"

"I recognize you," she said quietly. "You were there."

He nodded once to affirm her accusation, and the motion was sharply executed.

"What is your name?" Relena asked arrogantly. She remembered it; there wasn't much she forgot.

His eyes narrowed on her face, and beneath the civility she could see a finely controlled edge of fury. Relena relished it. "I am Captain Yuy of the Royal Guard."

"Really," she said, tone mocking. "I would have taken you for a Knight."

If possible, his eyes narrowed further, the icy fury evident to even the most untrained observer. "Excuse me." He stood with a polite incline of his head and moved away.

"Mr. Yuy," she called out to stop him, deliberately insulting him by dropping his title. She wasn't sure he would respond, but he turned back to her like a well-trained soldier. "I remember you," she continued, reiterating the observation she had already made, "from the water. You jumped in after me when I… fell. You risked your life to save mine."

He gave her that sharp, concise nod again.

Relena laughed bitterly. "I'm alive because of you. Am I supposed to be grateful?"

When she watched him leave, it wasn't without regret.

A few minutes later, the King entered the room and arranged himself on his throne. It took hours for the session to be underway, and for the court to finish all the important political discussion, but Relena was riveted. She hadn't heard such an intense legal argument since the day her father had died, and she missed it.

"I have one final issue for this session," Milliardo said in a bored tone. "I'd like to reintroduce you to my sister, Relena." He paused dramatically, waiting for the crowd to finish their exclamations of shock. "I know, I know," he said with a long-suffering sigh, playing on the emotions of his audience. "I DID tell you she was dead, and for a long while she was in a coma and the physicians predicted she wouldn't wake up, but here she is."

Relena smiled wanly at the attention directed her way.

"I'd insist she stand and curtsey as propriety calls for; however, she may have been pulled out of the water, but she wasn't whole. Unfortunately, my dear little sister is a cripple."

The gasps of shock were more audible this time, and Relena squared her jaw against the looks of pity and horror directed her way. Her brother shot her the sadistic cruelty that consisted of a fond smile from him, and she had difficulty blinking the humiliated and shameful tears out of her eyes. It wasn't her fault, she reminded herself; she couldn't help what had happened. If anyone should be ashamed it should be him for the heartless way he had dealt with the matter. Relena was reaffirmed in her convictions that Milliardo had only dragged her away from her villa in the country in order to devastate the hopes of her people.

One face in the crowd of people didn't stare at her as though she was a spectacle in a circus, and she focused on it with an intense concentration. Her tears dried and she wrenched her eyes away from his forceful gaze before she became caught in it. With renewed dignity, she faced the room and gave the crowd a smile which hadn't chased the shadows of the eaves in five long years. Collectively, those who noticed caught their breath, and this time the murmur was low, a hush a whispers deliberating on her ability to rule. From his throne, Milliardo frowned at the change in atmosphere one small expression from his sister could create.

"Furthermore," Milliardo exclaimed loudly, drawing attention back to him. "I will be giving her Captain Yuy of my Royal Guard for protection. He saved her life five years ago in an act which could have cost him his own. We hope his luck continues."

Relena's eyes flicked back to the Captain's, but he was no longer looking at her. She thought his shoulders were more tense than they had been before, but she figured it was either a trick of the lighting or discomfort at attention now being drawn to him. It never crossed her mind that her brother's news was as much of a surprise to him as it was to her.

.xXx.

"That poor girl," Duo said, pacing along the wooden floor of his living room.

"Who?" Hilde asked, casually observing him from a chair. "The princess? I had the misfortune of being assigned to her today. She was wretched."

"Of course she was wretched!" Duo exclaimed. "I can't imagine what she's gone through. When I heard that she was returning to us, I was so happy and stupidly self-centered. I thought that since she was back to her rightful position I could finally assuage my guilt."

"Guilt?" the blue-eyed girl asked, finally curious enough to straighten her posture out of an exhausted slouch. "What do you have to be guilty about?"

"Nothing," Duo muttered. "It is unimportant."

"It is not!" Hilde said hotly. "There has to be a reason you're going along with this foolish priest charade. You were never overly moral or pious before."

"I'm not overly moral or pious NOW," Duo said, wriggling his eyebrows lasciviously.

Hilde ignored his innuendo. "What happened? I know enough about your past already, you know. You probably can't surprise me after the story about the King and the sheep."

"That was a joke," Duo muttered, horrified.

Hilde grinned wickedly.

Duo sighed. "There were five of us. The king had hired the younger guards to protect Prince Milliardo, but mostly to keep him company. We had just finished training and believed ourselves to be the best and the brightest warriors in the kingdom, and some of us actually were. The Obsidian Knights. Goddamn stupid nickname, if you ask me. It had to do with those foolish obsidian daggers we were presented upon being sworn into the Royal Guard. We all met the Princess of course. It was an unspoken agreement that we would protect her too, if anything ever happened to put her life on the line, but none of us really worried about her. Everyone loved our Princess. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a subject in the entire kingdom who would have wished her harm back then."

Duo paused his disjointed tale to take a fortifying breath. Hilde wisely remained quiet.

"We never thought she'd be in danger. The day their father died, we were sticking particularly close to the prince. Remember how much controversy there was with the King's death? How some people thought he had been poisoned? Well, we took our job seriously, and since the prince had a decent chance at the throne because he was oldest and Relena was mostly just a child despite her brilliance at politics, we all thought that his life was in danger. None of us were really paying attention to her, but I'll never get the image of her going over the side of that cliff out of my mind. She screamed all the way down, and it was a decent fall, let me tell you. I was in shock. I just stood there staring, and I couldn't do anything. Heero was the only one who pushed past the prince and went in after her. I just did nothing."

"You were in shock," Hilde said comfortingly.

"Yeah," Duo said. "That's why I quit. I couldn't stay after I did nothing to help her." And he hadn't been the only one. Only those who knew the whole story would really understand his motivations. He couldn't serve King or country after an incident like that. After that day, his loyalties had changed and he ardently threw his support into the underground, encouraging rumours that the princess would one day rise for her country. He was one of the seven who knew that she lived, after all.

.xXx.

The next time Relena really looked at him was after she had been carried out of the assembly. Instead of her bedroom, she asked to be placed in the private gardens for a while. She sat in the sun with a foolish wide-brim hat perched on her head and her legs straight in front of her. He found her there, observing her reading with a frown borne from impatience of having to search for her. Once she noticed him, she completely put the book down beside her and watched him back.

"Hello again, Captain," she called, remembering a once upon a time when he had come across her reading in such a manner. It was far before the time of drownings and heroic rescues, when she was practically a child and he was still training for knighthood. "Have you learned to speak French yet?"

He looked as startled as she supposed he ever looked. "Oui," he said, approaching.

"That was the only word you knew then, too." She smiled at him. "So you are here to protect me? Don't worry; I'm not as adept at getting away as I once was."

"I am at your service," he said, kneeling at her feet once more and ignoring her self-depreciative words. He offered her his sword, and she reached a trembling hand out to touch it, drawing back at the last moment. His dark, unruly hair gleamed in the direct sunlight, and she remembered being besotted.

"He's displeased with you," she said quietly, bowing her head towards him so her hat kept his reactions from view. "He hopes you will fail."

"He knows I won't. I will protect you at all costs."

"Exactly," Relena hissed, glancing carefully around the garden. "Heero," she said, grabbing his hand in an act of familiarity she hadn't experienced for years. "He's trying to kill us both."

"Relena," Heero said slowly, "I may be assigned to you, but I am still one of the Royal Guard. Be careful what liberties you take; you can still be accused of treason."

"Either you're here to protect me, or you aren't," she snapped. "You can't have it both ways. We both know who the greatest threat to my life is. We both know that I'm not in danger unless he puts me in danger."

"He's worried one of his supporters may get too enthusiastic in an attempt to secure the throne. Your brother is only looking out for your wellbeing."

"How can you say that," Relena whispered, tears gathering in her eyes. He stared at her and for a moment she found herself drowning again in his eyes. She knew that this time, he would still be the one to pull her out of the water. She continued, her tone afflicted by a betrayal she could barely name, "you were on the cliff with us."

Heero's fingers tightened around her delicate hand.

"You saw him push me in."

©RelenaFanel.Sept21.2007


	3. Hooded Robber

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Chapter 2: Hooded Robber_

"You might have heard of her. She cleaned out the royal coffers in the Southern garrison. She was the one who returned the unjust taxes to the people in the lower valley region. They call her Justitia, because she extracts justice for us poor folk. She's a regular bleeding-heart outlaw. She takes from the rich and she gives to the poor!" Duo paused for dramatic effect. "And she does her job so well there are rumours she's moved to town to get justice for the entire country!" His eyes caught a hooded figure watching him from a corner booth, and as his eyes lighted on her form, she jerked her head to signify she expected his company.

"Excuse me," he said to the group gathered for his interesting nightly tales. He wandered over to the empty seat with his drink firmly clutched in his hand. "Ah," he said, sitting. "The hooded robber herself."

"Soon," she said, "you'll be telling wild tales about how I took the crown right out of the castle vault."

"You were the one who wanted your presence known," Duo defended his art. "I hear that all those stories are true, too."

"Precisely," she said, handing over a burlap sack.

Duo's eyebrows winged up as he glanced inside. "Right out of the castle vault?" he said weakly.

"Yes."

"You stole the royal crown," Duo wondered in a small voice, still not recovered from his shock. Part of him wondered what Trowa had gotten himself into, but a greater part of him was relishing the excitement and the beauty of years of planning finally coming to fruition. The world was a'changing.

"No. The King had a crown made for him out of tax money a few years ago and retired the royal crown to the back of the treasury. I'm just giving it back to the people."

"What am I supposed to do with a crown?" Duo demanded, finally getting his sense back.

She shrugged. "Melt it down and sell it, keep it as a souvenir, role play in it, I don't care. I stole it for the symbolism. The princess is back, and the crown has been stolen from the king."

"Excellent," Duo mused, a bit put-out that he hadn't thought of it himself. "I received another letter from Trowa."

"Oh?" The woman asked, settling back in her seat. Her delicately pointed chin was visible from under the hood, but even the interested gleam of her eyes was secreted in shadows.

"He backed up your story and told me that I was to help you no matter what."

"That's nice of him," she mused.

"He said he trained you." When Duo didn't get the response he wanted out of her, he continued. "He also backs up your support in our Queen."

"I didn't realize," she said with amusement, "that it was in question."

"You've gotta understand," Duo said, "the risks involved if we get caught, especially now that she's back in the castle. If a spy manages to infiltrate our underground support, not only are all of us dead, but she probably will be too. There is no way the King would believe that this entire operation was independent of her knowledge."

"Is it, really?"

"Are you asking if she knows? How could she?"

"How could she not?" She stood, adjusting the folds of her large cloak around her. "This circular reasoning will get us no where."

"Justice?" He mused, deep in thought. Now that the seed was planted, he couldn't help but wonder if the princess was aware of the revolution slowly building momentum outside of the castle walls. "I'm not quite sure that's the name you should be going for."

"No," she said with laugh, "More like Furiae."

He looked up sharply, but she had slipped silently into the group of tavern patrons, flowing through the bodies agilely so she was nothing more than a ghostly memory of a face he had never seen.

.xXx.

"This is foolish!" Relena proclaimed from her new chair. Heero had brought it to her that morning when he took his post, telling her it was a gift from her brother. She didn't know Heero as a liar, but she very much doubted the validity of that claim. He had also said that it was a new design by some physician meant to give easy mobility to people who didn't have it on their own. It kind of burned her pride that she needed it at all. "I feel like I'm going to roll away at any moment."

"It isn't so bad," Hilde said in a subdued voice. She could never read the moods of her new mistress. Sometimes she was happy and carefree and other times remote, angry, and temperamental at the flip of a switch. "You get to control your own movements."

"Control!" Relena snorted. "Don't think I can't tell that you're pushing me around. My feeble attempts at moving this thing wouldn't have gotten me out the front door."

Both women ignored Heero trailing behind them with his intense gaze unwavering from the path of the chair, and yet he saw everything in the surrounding area that could be a risk to his charge.

"I'd like to go to the lake," Relena mused, her gaze landing on the grassy slope leading towards the body of water. She internally smiled as the chair turned to where she hoped to go, the shadow of the person pushing her falling far heavier across her body in a way that had nothing to do with the direction of the sun. "Captain Yuy?" she asked without turning to confirm her observation. "I see you've taken your vow of service to heart."

"You knew your maid couldn't push you up this hill."

Relena laughed, turning her eyes up to see him. "Are you saying I orchestrated this? Captain," she warned with a light-hearted glint in her eyes, "be careful or I might assume your willingness to assist speaks to a wish to be alone with me."

Heero didn't respond and for a while the only noise was the crunch of grass as the chair rolled over it. His steps weren't audible, and Relena realized she had guessed right again. Hilde was no longer with them.

Once Heero parked her beneath a willow tree next to the water, ensuring that she was in the shade, Relena's hands grasped the arms of the chair and flexed as she attempted to lift herself into a different position. Heero moved to help, but she stopped him cold with a warning glance of her eyes. "You would think that after five years, I'd have the strength to do this myself."

They fell silent again. Relena stared out over the calm lake waters, ignoring the pit of fear curling in her stomach. Before, she had always been drawn to the lake and to the nearby sea as a source of calming influence, and on occasion, extreme exhilaration, but now she could barely look at a harmless forest stream without anxiety. She hoped to someday get back to where she had been. She looked at Heero again, seeing his alert figure against the sun behind him, and for a moment she was reminded of gods and warrior heroes. "I remember you kissing me under this tree."

"You remember a lot of things when it suits you," he responded.

"I conveniently forget them, too," she agreed. "When you can't walk away from a conversation, you need to develop new techniques."

"There are things I remember too," he said cautiously.

"Such as?" Relena asked, smiling up at him, but he was no longer focusing his glance on her. He had gone cold, no longer just alert, but practically vibrating with it. "What is it?"

"Shh," he hissed, balancing on the balls of his feet as his hand hovered next to his sword. He stood next to her, his body protecting her from one side with the tree bookending her in. She rued the fool who ever tried to get through Heero to reach her. Instead of outlaws with bows and arrows intent on killing her as she almost expected, her brother rounded the corner, his pale blond hair gleaming in the patches of light shining through the tree branches in a pattern of green shadows. His hair might have been the color of an angel's, but the expression on his face was pure fury. Heero took a step closer to her.

"Where is it?" Milliardo demanded, his shoes digging holes in the grassy slope as he gained ground towards the two of them. "Don't defend her, Yuy, or by the gods you'll find yourself executed in the most demeaning way possible."

Surprisingly, Heero moved out of the way. Under her breath, Relena called him a coward, but at the same time she couldn't blame him for not disobeying his monarch. She would not take insurrection lightly, either, and she was far less malevolent than Milliardo.

"What can I do for you, Brother?" Relena asked politely, unable to help the slight bite contained within the last word. The only kind thing he had every done for her was sending her off to a far-off villa to wake from her coma instead of finishing the job he had started. She wondered how they had gotten to this position. When they were younger, he was the one who played games with her when she didn't have a suitable friend her own age. He taught her the footing to all the local dances, and defended her against their sour-faced governess. Looking at him now, she could see her cherub-faced brother, but her heart had already been hardened against his deceptive mask.

"You can tell me where you put it. I swear, Relena, this better be a joke, because if you meant it as some threat, I'll… I'll…"

"You'll what?" Relena scorned. "Throw me off a cliff? Maybe if I knew what grievance I've committed against you, I can think of a more suitable punishment."

Heero threw her a warning look at the same time Milliardo grabbed the arm-rests of her chair and leaned forward so he was directly in her face. "Don't be glib with me, Sister."

"Fine," she hissed. "I'll be straight with you. What did I do?"

"You stole my crown."

Relena sat back with a short, derisive laugh. "I'm assuming you mean that literally – the physical crown? That's a nice trick, but you shouldn't be so hasty to accuse me."

"You deny it?" Milliardo asked, standing straight so he was towering over her in an act meant to intimidate.

"Of course I do. I may not have lived in the castle for a number of years, but I remember the door to the vault being far narrower than the width of this chair you obtained for me. Never mind the fact that I've been accompanied by either my servant or my watcher" she jerked her head at Heero, "since I received it.

"Last night…" Milliardo suggested weakly, knowing he had already lost the argument.

"I what? Stood up out of bed, _walked_ to the vault, and stole your crown?"

"That still doesn't mean you aren't behind this," Milliardo defended his stance.

Relena shrugged. "Captain Yuy, if you would be so kind as to return me to my chambers. I sense a headache coming on and I feel my brother is not up to the task of pushing this contraption."

.xXx.

The castle walls were tricky to navigate, and she had to be careful of the stones crumbling underfoot. She had been this way before, but a single misstep was equally as dangerous to her profession as getting caught by the guard was. Despite the constant worry and stress she was under, her footing was sure and swift, showing an agility which signified that she was a true master of her craft. She had been taught by the best, and sometimes after a particularly well-done job she entertained the notion that maybe she had become the greatest. Then she remembered Trowa's unknown origins and knew that whatever he had done before they met had been far more daring, dangerous, and covert than all the trifling thievery she could commit in her lifetime.

She used the disrepair of the castle wall to find footholds, climbing up the vertical surface as though she were using magic. In this, she was fortunate to be female and tiny-boned, for even the smallest crack could be used as a hold for her hands and feet if she could figure out how to use it. She entered the seemingly impenetrable window at the top of the turret with a gentle flip, and landed on her hands and feet so softly that even if someone else was in the vault tower, they wouldn't hear her.

Presumably.

Feeling secure in the knowledge that the hardest part was finished, she stood and brushed herself off, flexing her fingers in an attempt to ease the aches. This was when she paused, eyes nervously scanning the room and her heart suddenly in her throat. She couldn't define what was wrong – the shape of the shadows perhaps, or the slightest sighs of movement that she shouldn't be hearing – but she knew instinctively that she wasn't alone even though her senses couldn't detect what it was that told her this.

"I'd recognize that technique anywhere," a voice said from the shadows. A moment later, he stepped forward, his bow readied to aim and shoot. She moved backwards in accordance, until the back of her knees brushed against the sill of the window she had just entered. "You've been trained by Barton."

She stared at him, a cold sweat trickling down her back. He was still half-concealed with shadows, but she recognized his warrior stance and knew that only a miracle would get her through this alive.

"Yuy," a voice came from below, down the stairs which led into the bowels of the castle and the treasure room. The only way in was through a heavily guarded door, and she imagined that after the theft of the crown the night before that security would have risen. She had presumed that it was limited to the outside of the vault doors. Her mistake. "Is someone up there?"

His eyes narrowed at the vocalization of his name, and it was with a start that she realized that a dim, flickering light was narrowing in on their position as the other man climbed the stairs. She could almost see the color of his eyes now, and the muscles of his shoulders bunching beneath his uniform as he held the bow string taut. She had to resist the urge to check her hood.

"You were careless to be caught," the man with the bow said, aiming at her with his string only pulled back a fraction of the way. When he let loose the arrow, it whistled through the air with an unwavering accuracy, far too quick for her to dodge from this close proximity. The arrow entered her shoulder with a thwack of tissue splitting and a fine spray of blood coated her front. She stumbled backwards, but kept her footing through sheer will. "Fuck," she hissed once the urge to scream passed and blood oozed from around the arrow to pour down her arm. His eyes narrowed further, but he didn't move to finish the job.

The other man finished climbing the stairs, huffing at the top with wide eyes cast over her. The light illuminated the two men, and she knew she had nowhere to go but down. Quickly she jumped back out the window, but without the agility she arrived with. With only one arm, the trip down to the ground was a series of short falls, one of which pushed the arrow further into her flesh.

But somehow she survived an encounter with Heero Yuy. That fact alone made her realize that he never intended the blow to be deadly.

©RelenaFanel.Sept24.2007


	4. Arrowsmith

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Chapter 3: Arrowsmith_

"What's going on here?" Milliardo demanded, his wide stride causing the gathered soldiers to scramble quickly out of his way. "I don't appreciate being woken at this time of night. Do you know how difficult it is for me to sleep?" His words weren't directed at anyone in particular, but those who heard him couldn't help but wonder if his guilty conscience was getting the better of him. "Yuy!" Milliardo bellowed, finally finding a person he deemed worthy to harass.

Heero stood at attention, his narrowed eyes showing no sign of resentment from being pulled away from his task.

"What's this I hear about the thief, this Justitia, getting away? I never would have thought you incompetent, Yuy."

Where a lesser man would have gritted his teeth or glared hotly, Heero merely looked at his monarch with his blank eyes, not rising to the bait. "You requested the outlaw to be brought in alive so you could question him, so I did not aim to kill."

"You messed up and you know it! I'm bringing Barton back. He's better at these matters of felony. He wouldn't allow something like this to happen!" When Heero still gave no response, Milliardo scowled at him. "Now tell me, what are you doing to fix it?"

"Patrols are set up to scour the area for signs of the intruder."

"Make sure they check every church, inn, and hospital. Knock on doors if you have to. I want no stone unturned."

"We'll find him."

Milliardo stood, thinking for a moment. "Are you sure he made it off the castle grounds?"

"Positive."

.xXx.

She was experiencing a sense of vertigo brought on by blood-loss, exhaustion, and the looming sense of her own mortality. Her back pressed against the cold stone wall as she inched her way across a small ledge. Hours before, when she had been in the best form of her young life, she had easily trapezed her way past this section as if she were walking on the ground. Again, her sight wavered and she felt a curious sensation of falling, though she was almost sure her feet hadn't given out from under her. Her cloak was off, exposing her features to anyone who cared to look at her clinging to the side of the castle, and she had the hefty material padded around her wound in an attempt to staunch the blood flow.

Clenching her jaw, she pressed against her shoulder, feeling the arrow shift within her flesh. The pain shocked her back to reality, and she shuffled a bit further out on the ledge. She only had a few more steps to go, but it might as well be miles. She had thought about trying to make it to Maxwell's, but she knew Captain Yuy was an intelligent man and if he managed to find her, the whole underground movement would be in jeopardy. The best place to hide was in plain sight.

Finally making it, she tumbled through the window, landing hard on her back with the long curtains tangled around her. Her shoulder jarred, and she hissed in pain.

Lying there, she promised herself a minute of rest before putting herself back into motion. Unfortunately, this backfired on her. She didn't hear the footsteps until the door to the room was opening and someone stepped in. She was only able to get her head up enough to stare when the other person shrieked, moving towards her in a flurry of motion.

"Princess! Are you alright?"

"I've been shot, Hilde," Relena said dryly as she struggled to her feet. "Of course I'm not alright."

Hilde stopped dead, staring at her with a horrified expression of shock. "Ohmigod, there's an arrow in your chest."

Relena stared at her, clinging to the curtains with all her remaining strength.

"Oh my GOD, you're standing!!"

"Yeah," Relena said anticlimactically. "You have to keep quiet. We don't want to bring Captain Yuy and the cavalry."

"Why not?" Hilde demanded. "Someone shot you. It's his job to make sure that doesn't happen."

Relena laughed breathlessly, swaying slightly. "He was the one who shot me."

"Why?" The raven-haired woman was appalled.

"Because I broke into the treasure vault. Now could you help me get this arrow out before I die on the ugly rug in this room."

If anything, Hilde's eyes widened even more. Relena sat heavily on the floor, making more noise than she intended. "I don't do well with blood," she said, even as she moved to kneel beside Relena.

"You have to push it through," Relena hissed, grabbing Hilde's hand as the girl attempted to pull the arrow out of her shoulder. "I've seen the tips Heero uses, and they're designed to break off in the body if you pull the arrow."

Hilde blanched. "I can't."

"You have to." Relena gritted her teeth, exerting force with her good arm against Hilde's grip so that the arrow moved slightly farther into her flesh. She was shaking, and a fine layer of sweat coated her body, but still she refused to cry out in pain. "If you can't do it, you'll have to get Heero."

"But he shot you!"

"Yeah, well," Relena said dryly. "Imagine his surprise."

"I think I can do this," Hilde affirmed.

"Good," Relena mused, "because I'm going to need you to break the feathered end off the arrow without jarring too much. Any more into my shoulder and we won't have any leverage."

Hilde nodded, but Relena wasn't sure she was really getting the point. She seemed a little shell shocked.

"Hilde!" Relena snapped. "I'm going to need boiled water as well. Why don't you start setting that up now?" Hilde nodded again, but this time she at least stood and moved towards the fire. Once her back was turned, Relena reached up with her disabled arm, holding the arrow still between her fingers, and used the other hand to snap the shaft in two. She grunted in pain as the arrow shifted inside her arm, opening the wound up farther. At least she knew it wasn't stuck in a bone.

"You didn't need to do that," Hilde accused, suddenly by her side. Relena wasn't sure if she had passed out or was just losing time through the pain. "Can I push now?"

Relena nodded, unable to talk.

"Ok." Hilde was visibly sweating as she pressed down on the stub of arrow. "How am I supposed to know if there is bone or not?"

"It'll. Stop." Relena panted, closing her eyes. Hilde, true to her word, actually pushed the arrow into the live flesh despite the fresh ripple of blood dribbling from the wound. Relena peeked. She wasn't sure, but she didn't think dribbling was good. It meant she had lost a lot of blood already. Too much. She wanted to tell Hilde to get Heero if she passed out, but couldn't speak past the wave of nausea flooding her senses.

The arrow finally dug through the last of her muscle and broke skin. Without asking what to do next, Hilde grabbed the arrowhead, her fingers sliding off the slick metal as she tried to get a good grip. Giving a frustrated sigh which blew her bangs off her face, she attempted to push the arrow further into Relena's shoulder, but it was already as far in as it would go.

"I'm sorry," Hilde muttered, pushing her finger into the wet, hot flesh of Relena's wound until she was able to force the wood in farther. The motion ripped at the hole, widening the wound. Relena whimpered, her face drenched with sweat. In an attempt to be as quick as possible, Hilde used her other hand to find purchase on the head of the arrow and rip the entire thing out of Relena's shoulder in one sharp jerk.

Relena screamed, the sound muffed by her own closed mouth. She then wrenched herself forward and vomited from the pain.

"I think I'm going to faint," Hilde said a moment later, belying her comment by helping Relena lie back on the floor. The rug beneath her back was smeared with blood, but none had spread into the grain of the wooden floorboards beneath.

Relena took a long moment to catch her breath. "You'll have to pour the water over it."

"What?" Hilde asked, appalled. "Haven't you been through enough?"

"Both sides," Relena continued. "To cleanse it."

"That's barbaric," Hilde muttered, moving towards the fire. She gathered a pot sitting next to the fire up with her skirts, carefully carrying it back towards the window. "It's only warm."

"I don't care anymore."

"So tell me something," Hilde said conversationally as she grabbed a cloth from Relena's dressing table and soaked it in the water. "If you can walk, and you were shot in the treasury, does that mean you're that thief everyone keeps talking about?"

Relena nodded sharply, her jaw clenched against the pain of water being poured over her open, bleeding flesh. The injury screamed from the abuse, and she wanted to follow suit.

"That's –" Hilde cut off, clearly not sure what it was. "—amazing. You have everyone fooled into believing you're a bitter, crippled woman who hates her life, when instead you're saving your people from starvation."

"Secret," Relena panted, ending the word with a whimper.

"Of course," the servant insisted, pouring the remainder of the water over the entire shoulder. By the time she put the pot down, Relena had fallen unconscious.

The next morning, Relena awoke to her right shoulder on fire and her arm practically immobile. She moaned, a dull pounding behind her eyes accompanying the ache. She looked towards the area beneath the window to find it scrubbed clean, the hideous, stained rug removed, and all traces of bodily fluid as if they never were. If it wasn't for her shoulder, Relena would have assumed it had all been a horrible nightmare.

Sitting up was difficult work, but it afforded her a better look at both sides of her body. A small cotton bandage hid the wound from her view, but just from the size of the covering she could tell it would heal into a small circular scar. For that she was thankful. She had seen the effect of the instruments used to dig out stuck arrowheads, and if a physician had used one on her shoulder, not only would the flesh be pulverized, but she probably wouldn't have full mobility in her right arm.

She flexed her fingers to make sure they were still working. The movement brought on a tight pull of pain, but her hand moved into a fist easily.

This time she heard the footsteps before they entered the room, and she pulled her nightgown down over the other shoulder to ensure the wide neck didn't slip the wrong way. "Captain Yuy! You can't –"

"Captain," Relena snapped once the door opened to reveal his frame shrouded in the early morning sunlight from the open window in her sitting room beyond. "This is highly offensive behavior. Usually even you know to wait until I am dressed before barging into my inner chamber."

Heero didn't have the grace to be abashed. "I'm afraid my presence is necessary today."

"Really?" Relena said coldly. "Does it have anything to do with the commotion which kept me awake last night? I'm very delicate, Mr. Yuy, and I require my sleep. Somehow, I don't think you understand the brevity of the situation. If I'm tired, I'm cranky, and if I'm cranky, everyone else around me is in a foul mood."

"We had an incident," he returned with equal passion. "A thief was caught breaking into the vault last night. We believe it to be the same person who stole your brother's crown."

"You've caught the man?" Relena said with amazement. "That still doesn't explain why you came barging into my room at the ungodly hour of…?"

"Eight."

"Eight!"

"The man is still at large. We have been unable to find a trace of him."

"Oh?" Relena asked, suddenly aware that Heero was staring at the empty spot on her floor where the rug used to be.

"Did you see or hear anything?"

"Unfortunately," she said, watching him carefully, "the only thing I heard was the cries of our own people. What is it?" Relena asked as his eyes narrowed.

"There used to be a rug on the floor."

"Yes, and it was one of the most hideous things I have ever seen. Even you've witnessed how often it got stuck in the wheels of my chair. I had Hilde get rid of it."

Now he turned his attention back towards her, and Relena was keenly aware of his eyes and how little they missed. She had to resist the urge to pull the neck of her nightshirt up to cover her good shoulder. When she spoke again, it wasn't nearly as defensive or prickly as it had been before. In fact, it revealed her exhaustion and the amount of energy she had used just conversing with him. "Can I go back to sleep now, Heero?"

He nodded curtly. "I'll be outside the door."

Despite the pain in her shoulder and the one in her rear, she did manage to catch a few more hours of rest.

©RelenaFanel.Oct3.2007

A/N: This may be my last update for a while. I'm going home for Thanksgiving this weekend (shout out to all fellow Canadians – Happy Turkey Weekend) and should be getting the new powercord for my laptop. That being the case, I'll have to divest a lot of time catching up on my 3 on-going stories, including Edge of the Chase, before I can update this.

That being said, I'm trying to have at least 2 chapters in advance finished so you don't really notice a long absence.


	5. Aim

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Chapter 4 - Aim_

* * *

When she awoke, Relena dismissed Hilde for the rest of the day, causing Heero to glare at her for his new role of servant/fetcher/chair pusher. She tried to be thoughtful of his nature and didn't ask him to pick out a pair of shoes for her, though she did force him to drag the chair outside and show her how the thief escaped from him. 

Staring up at the wall, she was surprised anyone could make it down something so sheer with an arrow stuck in their shoulder. "So you shot him?" she asked. "And then he just tumbled out the window?"

Heero grunted.

"Assuming there isn't a body lying somewhere in the field, I'm amazed by this thief's ingenuity and daring. This was the second night in a row he tried to steal from the castle? That takes guts."

Heero grunted again.

"How's my brother taking it?"

"Badly."

Relena tried not to smile. "I still can't believe you missed," she told him, maybe the only honest thing she said all morning.

"The king ordered him to be brought in alive."

Relena's courage faltered. She hadn't realized how much she had begun to believe Heero might have done it for her until he practically told her otherwise; she might even have been subconsciously goading him into admitting that he knew. Her conversation was subdued as he pushed her back towards the castle entrance. They hadn't gotten more than a few feet within the walls – Heero had to pause in order to remove grass from one of the wheels before the whole contraption tipped over – when a lone horse galloped through the gates. Usually, a single rider signified news of some sort, so Relena was staring with open curiosity as the man dismounted his steed, handing the reigns off the a stable boy, and then entered the castle through the great doors.

Once he noticed the two of them off to the side, he sauntered over, removing a hood much like the mysterious thief wore.

"Trowa!" Relena exclaimed. "It isn't safe to hide your face in town these days. I'm afraid the King is making it his personal quest to find the thief responsible for stealing his crown."

Trowa bowed deeply. "I would not worry overmuch, my lady. Your brother has sent for me to apprehend this crook with minimal bloodshed." Once straightening, he inclined his head slightly to Heero.

"Really!" Relena exclaimed with delight. "They still say that you're the best. I'm surprised that my brother hasn't named you a suspect."

"Barton's whereabouts are accountable," Milliardo spoke, entering the Great Hall through a door leading from the kitchen. For a moment Relena hoped he wasn't learning all about what happened in her bedroom last night from the servants. "After it was no longer necessary for him to guard you, dear sister, I sent him on a small mission."

"That's so interesting!" Relena didn't miss the way Heero's eyes narrowed slightly, or how Milliardo's gaze was intend on her reaction. "I know you can't tell me any of the particulars Mr. Barton, but I hope your task was a success."

He gave her the incline of his head which meant so much and yet so little at the same time.

"I expected you to report to me immediately once you returned," Milliardo injected, bringing attention back to his command. With a flick of his hand, he dismissed his displeasure. "It doesn't matter. I must update you on the break-in last night. Yuy managed to shoot the man in the shoulder with an arrow, but somehow allowed him to escape. We haven't been able to find a trace. I'm counting on you to do what Yuy could not and apprehend this man who would dare steal from ME."

Trowa acquiesced. Heero glared.

Milliardo stepped next to Relena, his hand resting heavily on her right shoulder in an act of kinship which both surprised her and made her suspicious even as the pain coursed through her arm and upper chest. It took a lot of concentration to keep her expression congenial and to mask the fact she could barely hear the words coming out of his mouth over the roar in her ears. Please, she asked the deities, don't let him feel the bandage.

"My sister's life is possibly in jeopardy. I want this man caught so we can all be safe again, and I expect the two of you to work together to ensure it." Milliardo gave her shoulder a squeeze and she smiled up at him, frightened that somehow he knew. She didn't notice that both Heero's and Trowa's attention was riveted to her face. Her eyes followed Milliardo as he left the room, wondering if it really was brotherly concern he was showing. He left the three of them, each with thoughtful expressions on their faces, but none of them thinking the same thing.

Relena didn't want to be the one to interrupt the silence amid the triumvirate, but she knew that she was the only one of the three who would, and she was beginning to worry that her shoulder might be bleeding again. The last thing she needed was for blood to stain through the white linen dress she habitually wore. Then her identity really would be discovered.

"Gentlemen," Relena said, "I'm feeling a tad faint. Could one of you please bring me back to my rooms?"

Trowa reached the handles of her chair first. He and Heero had one of their unspoken agreements, and Relena realized that though it had been five years since she had seen the original Obsidian Knights interact together, it was a good possibility that none of them had really changed that much.

"How's Lord Quatre?"

"Fine," Trowa answered as they left the Great Hall. He ignored the complicated pulley system set up for her chair to be dragged up the stairs and leaned over her to pick her up from it.

"Other side," Relena hissed as he bent so that her injured arm would have been pressed against his chest. Trowa observed her for one second, half his expression hidden behind his long bangs. She was quite sure there wasn't anything there to see, even if his face was clear from obstacles. With grace, making it appear as though it had been what he attended all along, he tucked her skirt around her and picked her up from the other side.

Despite the fact that Trowa's hand around her waist and the other one beneath her knees kept her relatively immobile, she still felt the jar of every step he took spark the nerves from her shoulder to her toes. She knew that if she wasn't careful, the wound might twinge for the rest of her life, but she was ready for it to be healed _now_.

"My rooms are the third door on the left," she told him. Trowa didn't seem to be breathing heavily from the exertion of her weight, but she was starting to feel foolish in his arms. It was one thing to be carried by someone she had to pretend with, and quite another to be in the arms of someone who knew the truth; someone who had been with her back when her weak condition had been a reality and had pushed her back into the health she was in now. With slight embarrassment, she stared at her knees instead of his neck.

"Can you open the door?" He asked. Her hand was right there, and should have been able to open the door easier than he could with her balanced in his arms, but it was also her injured arm and she didn't have that level of mobility.

"No," she told him, counting herself lucky she wasn't with Heero.

"Alright," Trowa said, executing some complicated twist of his wrist while still holding her up with his forearm.

"Is anyone here?" Relena called out, once he swung them into the room. She felt like a young woman sneaking her lover into her room; instead, her secret was far more damning. When no one answered, Trowa allowed her to slip out of his arms until her feet touched the floor. She moved away from him, renewed in the feeling of being a newborn babe taking its first steps. Quickly, she executed a twirl that was half a dance and half of one of the complicated martial arts moves he had taught her. The gracefulness of the movement was hindered by her injured arm, causing it to be lopsided and sloppy.

"How bad?"

Relena sat back in one of the chairs in her sitting room heavily, pulling aside the material of her dress so both of them could see the white bandage. It was clean, but that didn't dispel her unease that she had somehow slipped up. "It could be worse," she said, turning so he could see her back. "Has it bled through? I can't see."

When he didn't respond, she took it as a sign she was fine.

"I should put fresh bandages on it," she said, leaning over to take the slippers off her feet so none of the maids would wonder how someone who couldn't walk could pick up dirt on the soles. "I know he opened something up when he squeezed it. You don't think he was testing me, do you?" She looked at him with worry.

"No," he said quietly.

Relena could never tell if Trowa was naturally quiet, shy, or so deep in thought all the time that he didn't bother doing something as mundane as talking. Usually she allowed the silences to stretch, something she was usually too self-conscious to do in Heero's presence. Standing, Relena rummaged through a basket of clean bandages Hilde had left her. She was going to have to actually like her maid after this.

"I might have a problem," she told him once she returned with fresh bandages. "I let my guard down for a moment and my maid found me. She helped me push the arrow through and then cleaned up after me when I passed out, but I don't know if she can be trusted."

"Name?"

"Hilde something. I don't think I ever asked what her last name was."

"She's safe."

"What do you mean, she's safe?" Relena asked, finally untwining the padding over her shoulder with her one free arm. The final layer was stuck to her skin and the entire thing was blotched with a stain of blood leading up to almost the outer shell. She hissed when she pulled the renewed flesh knitted to the bandage away from her skin.

"She's Maxwell's wife."

Relena's eyebrows shot up, though her head was bent down so the expression wasn't obvious. "I didn't really see that one coming." She joked, soaking the relatively clean end of the bandage in a small dish of water to dab at the circular hole.

"Heero's aim is as good as always," Trowa said, nodding at her shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Relena questioned with a small frown, the water stinging as she applied it. As far as she could see, he was off from any major organ or kill-spot by inches.

"It didn't hit bone, did it?"

"No," she mused. "I hadn't really thought about it. I guess I thought it was just my luck, and not his skill." She knew that was foolish. These men didn't get to be where they were without some serious talent. Finally, she was ready to apply the clean bandages. Relena looked up to ask Trowa to help her, but he was already a few paces away from her, reaching for the second piece of padding for the exit wound on her back. She knew he would never congratulate her for how she handled the situation the night before, but the fact he hadn't walked away with disapproval meant something as well. "Do you think he knows?"

"It's possible."

"Comforting," Relena quipped, cringing as he pulled the wrapping tight. "Do you think it will heal properly?" He didn't answer. Again, Relena chose to take that positively.

.xXx.

"I think," Hilde said when she came downstairs that afternoon after a long nap, "that the princess will make a decent queen."

"I thought you hated her," Duo said absently as he stared at a spread of paper in front of him. "You said she was immature, bitter, and selfish."

"Let's just say I've seen reason. She and I had an illuminating conversation last night."

"That's not all that happened last night. The town is abuzz with the fact that Justitia was shot by one of the guards as she tried to steal something out of the vault for a second night in a row. The church has been searched twice."

"I doubt she'll come to you for aid now, if she hasn't already."

"That's just it," Duo explained, "I'm worried about the future of the cause if the guards keep hanging around and our ace is out of commission."

Hilde came up behind him, encircling his shoulders with her arms. "I think you should finally organize an official meeting. I think events are going to start quickly and if you don't put the ball into motion soon, they might go in a different way than you planned."

"It's too dangerous."

"You aren't usually a cautious man," Hilde reminded him.

"True, but I still think it's too soon. There are pieces missing that we'll need before overthrowing the current monarchy."

"Trowa's back in town."

"Wednesday night would probably work well," Duo said with sudden excitement. "We can hold it in the church. I'll need to get the word out that attendance is mandatory."

"Should I invite the Princess?"

"No," Duo said with conviction. "It's best she doesn't know in case we fail."

©RelenaFanel.Oct19.2007


	6. Poker

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Chapter 5 _

The next few days found Relena abed with a fever. Her wound remained clean of infection, diligently checked by both Trowa and Hilde, though they pretended not to be concerned. Still her brain raged with a fire which would not decrease, even with a cold-compress. Hilde chided her for overtaxing herself too soon in the recovery process and Trowa silently worried about poisons. Relena sweated and moaned, throwing off her bedclothes in one moment and then struggling to drag them back on in the next. She was always conscious enough of her own actions that even when Heero was not sitting in the room watching her from the corner of his eye, Relena still didn't let her legs move.

She suffered through cold ice baths which almost made her weep from the painful chill and she put up with the pitying whispers of servants about her ill health. She slept and barely touched her food, and all the while she was plotting her next move. It angered her that now she would have to add recovery time from the fever to the estimate of how soon she could get back to being Justitia. There were things she could do other than stealing, she knew, which wouldn't require her to lift even a finger.

Which was good, because she could barely move the ones on her right hand.

On the forth day her fever broke and she asked for her brother to visit her. Bundled in robes, she was a fragile image sitting in bed with the plush pillows piled behind her emphasizing the sickly grey sheen to her face. Today, she didn't need to daub charcoal beneath her eyes in order to appear unhealthy, and her hair was an unwashed tangle of greasy strands instead of the illustrious golden locks she vainly kept. When Milliardo saw her, a satisfied smile crossed his mouth, and she caught it while she was pretending to nap. It burned her into a righteous anger.

"Relena," he said by means of waking her, "I'm a busy man, but don't let it be said that I don't visit my sick family members."

She stirred as if coming awake and grimaced at him. "I feel like a building fell on me, so I appreciate you coming to see me so promptly. It really means something to me." She knew it had been hours since she made the request, just like she knew that he had spent them arranging for a sudden tax increase in order to pay for a new crown out of coffers which weren't his own. You're an ass, she added silently as she smiled her false gratitude.

"You aren't getting ready to say your final farewells, are you?"

"My fever has broken. I'm afraid I won't be leaving that easily." A horrible idea surfaced as she wondered whether Trowa was right, and she had been poisoned. She assumed that Trowa had meant that Heero had dipped the tip of his arrow in something, but now she couldn't help but be suspicious of her brother. What better way to get rid of her but to admit the rumours of her surviving the fall were true, make sure she was visible for a while, and then kill her rather publicly. Milliardo might not be the best monarch, but he was an excellent manipulator. "I asked you to come here because I think I heard something while drifting in and out of consciousness over the past couple of days."

"You think you heard something," he said cautiously, standing with his back to her covered window. He was far enough away so that if she was contagious, he wouldn't catch anything, but close enough that he could see her face.

"I was unwell," Relena pointed out, "and it could just have been a dream. I didn't recognize the voices, but two of the maids were talking about a plot of treason against you. I think they thought I was asleep."

"Who?"

"I don't know," Relena said honestly. "It couldn't have been Hilde because I would recognize her voice."

"Who is going to betray me," Milliardo asked with barely controlled irritation.

"One of your advisors."

Milliardo's eyes went cold with fury and he wheeled around, heading towards the door. Suddenly, he turned back to face her. "Why are you telling me this? How does it serve you?"

"Brother," she said, reinforcing their bond of blood, "just because plots against you will ultimately see me in power does not mean I'm behind them. Nor does it mean I want you dead." She didn't. If she could end this all without bloodshed, she would gladly do so. The Sank kingdom was becoming poor under his mismanagement and her people starved. The political atmosphere was beginning to change, and she feared that if something wasn't amended soon the neighboring countries would do more than just notice their vulnerability. There were already whispers of invasion and war.

"I don't believe you."

"Believe what you will," she said with a sigh as he stalked out. She knew that he would. She had done the best she could to plant a seed of suspicion in his mind to fester and grow until he couldn't even trust those he thought of as being the most trustworthy. Relena hoped that since she had warned him, he would be blind to her own betrayal until she was ready to usurp his crown.

It was just an idea she was trying out. It could completely work against her too, and he could become suspicious of everyone and every little thing, seeing plots against him where none existed. The fact she had come up with this new plan while under the influence of a fever probably didn't really bode well, she realized suddenly.

"You look deep in thought," Hilde said, entering the room with a vase of flowers. "One of your many admirers sent these to you."

"Are they bee infested?" Relena asked suspiciously, sitting up straighter as she watched Hilde place the vase on the night table and rearrange the contents so that the pretty pink ones were facing the bed.

"I doubt it," Hilde said with a snort. "My husband sent them."

"Oh!" Relena said with surprise, and maybe a tad disappointment. "Duo sent them. I thought you meant a different kind of admirer."

"Unfortunately not. Your guard beats back those men with a shovel."

"I don't even want to know," Relena said with a slight smile. "Tell your husband I'm grateful he's thinking about me in my time of ill health."

"I think it's more than that," Hilde said, leaning forward to conspire under the guise of adjusting the pillows. "I think he's feeling guilty for not including you in the meeting tonight."

Relena looked alarmed. "What meeting?"

"He specifically told me not to tell you. There is a gathering of supporters at the church tonight, and attendance is mandatory. Things are moving forward very quickly."

"And I wasn't to know about this?" Her voice was demanding, but her emotions were as confused as they were angered.

"He thought it would be too dangerous for you to know."

"I don't understand," Relena fumed, "how he expects me to be a better leader than my brother when he doesn't even believe I can be a part of my own revolution."

"He's protecting you."

"He's being immensely short-sighted. If I just let my people risk their lives in an unneeded war against the state, I would be no better than Milliardo. Protecting me from the brutality of it all will not make me into a good queen. What he – and everyone else involved – should want is for me to understand the sacrifices that need to be made, and for them all to rest on my shoulders. They should not meet behind my back, but with my blessings."

"Stop being so self-involved," Hilde snapped. "Don't you realize that you're only a figurehead? They don't care who takes over the country, only that someone else does. I don't know if you've noticed in your little bubble, but your people are being executed in the streets."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Relena roared. "Do you think I don't see these public executions for treason and witchcraft and not realize that these are probably innocent people who couldn't pay their taxes or who spoke out against the current government? Do you think I haven't looked at the legers and wondered why the country gets poorer on paper with each passing day? Do you think I haven't heard whispers of an attack from the south? Do you honestly think I came back to be a THIEF?"

xXx

"What news, Barton?" King Milliardo hailed from across the great hall. He was seated at his throne, a makeshift table set up before him. Around him were representatives from his three tiers of advisors – political, religious, and military – and the official advisor and the bishop were in a deep debate, and upon approaching, Trowa assumed it was political in matter until he saw the deck of cards set on the table. "Sit."

Trowa sat with a surprising amount of obedience, sliding next to a tense Heero on a bench seat.

"I have found that there is no better way to solve the political problems in this country than through a good game of poker," Milliardo explained, dealing out five hands. "We're playing this hand for my sister."

Even a casual observer could see from the way none of the members of the table reacted in surprise that this was a common bet during these games.

"Now, what news?" Milliardo asked, his deft fingers dealing out the hands with the speed of a pro.

"The thief has not been located, your majesty," Trowa pronounced calmly, picking up his cards and staring at his hand with a detached eye. Heero's back was a rigid line, but his hands held the cards without bending them in his fists. The only wayward thought Trowa allowed himself was at Heero's finely honed and controlled emotions.

"Not found!" Milliardo roared, beating two cards in a slicing motion against his hand before flicking them on the table. He retrieved replacements from the deck. "I have pet pigs who could have done a better job."

"True," Trowa conceded mildly, "but they could not tell you what I have learned." Trowa paused, watching as the king skipped at least three steps of play and presented his hand of two nines. Immediately, the Bishop folded with a look to the heavens, followed by a dismayed wail from the advisor as he flung a pair of threes on the table. The two soldiers on the bench stared at Heero's hand of cards.

"Well," Milliardo urged impatiently. "It isn't like you to withhold information for a dramatic effect, Barton."

Trowa casually dismissed his hand of cards with a flick of his wrist, and the scattered facedown across the table. "There is talk of a secret meeting tonight among the princess's supporters. I have not heard where."

"Did I win this hand?"

Heero finally put his cards down, a small frown line appearing between his thick eyebrows. They were also facedown.

"Excellent," Milliardo crowed. "I want military presence in each tavern and meeting room across town. See to it Yuy. Then I want a guard on Relena's room. Someone big and mean, but who would not think to harm her himself."

Heero nodded, his push away from the table dampened by the added weight of Trowa on the bench, and stalked away with his hands fisted by his sides and back still severe and straight.

"Gentlemen," Milliardo nodded to the two remaining men. "If you will excuse us, Barton and I have a few matters to discuss."

The king was never the one who removed himself from the table, so the men stood, each straightening his robes before stepping away in a move which almost mirrored the other.

"Crowley!" Milliardo said sharply to the advisor. "I want to know who by tomorrow." The man jumped, then scuttled away in fear. Milliardo gave a self-satisfied smile which showed more teeth than was friendly.

Once the king and his obedient subject were alone, Milliardo steepled his fingers before him, appearing deep in thought as he frowned. "Is she involved?"

"No."

"You sound certain."

"I am. The people are now rejecting her as their ideal monarch. I believe this meeting is to discuss whether she can meet their requirements as queen in her current condition."

"Good," Milliardo mused. "You were right. It was an excellent idea to bring her back."

Trowa nodded his acknowledgement of the compliment.

"Do you know why I win every time I wager with her life?" When Trowa didn't try to guess, he continued, "the Bishop believes it is a moral sin to win, and saves those instances for matters of religious importance, the advisor gets over excited by the idea of her warming his bed and misjudges the cards, and Heero loses on purpose, always going last so that if one of the other two managed to win he could trump them."

Trowa wisely remained silent.

Milliardo judged his audience. "I hope you're right about her. I won't hesitate to do what is necessary." He stood, leaving the room through his private entrance with a swarm of servants and lesser members of the court vying to serve his every whim.

Trowa picked up Heero's cards and stared at them. The four queens and a joker seemed to be an omen, but of what he wasn't sure.

©RelenaFanel.Dec6.2007 


	7. Loyalty

**Cloak and Dagger**

_Chapter 6: Loyalty_

Relena sat on her bed, her long blond hair draped over her right shoulder as she attempted to braid it into a manageable rope. Her arm twinged every time she tried to lift it to manipulate the strands, and she knew that it was far too soon in her recovery for Justitia to safely reveal herself again. However, it was clear to her that this was a meeting she could not miss. Everything hinged on her supporters acting in a way which would bring her closer to the crown. In the past few days, she had been hearing far too many rumours of her father's younger brother thinking of striking from exile, and she knew that Milliardo was too concerned of an attack from within that he couldn't see what was outside his country shores.

Once her hair was severely back from her face, she stood and padded barefoot to the large mahogany wardrobe which housed her everyday gowns. From inside she pulled a body-sized pillow and a blond wig, hoping it would be enough of a decoy for her bed that no one would think to try to wake the sleeping princess. She had almost wrestled the awkward fake-Relena out, her shoulder screaming in protest, when heavy footsteps echoed outside the door to her bedroom, approaching at a leisurely pace.

Relena pushed the pillow back in with all her strength, slamming the wooden door behind it. Her bare feet were muted against the hardwood floor as she rushed to her chair, sitting in it just as a sharp rap sounded at the door. "Yes," she called out, wondering why she hadn't made for the bed. She looked conspicuous sitting in the middle of her floor with nothing to occupy herself except staring at her wall.

"We must discuss some security matters."

"At this time of night?" Relena called back, wondering why it was Heero no longer felt the need to introduce himself when he spoke to her through a door. Did he presume she would recognize his voice? Why was it that she DID recognize his voice? And why was it that Heero thought it was acceptable to knock on her door after dark? If it was anyone else, she would think they had ulterior motives. She huffed in annoyance, secretly pleased, and wheeled her chair over to the door though she couldn't easily open it since it swung towards her. "You may open the door."

The door swayed open, though Heero didn't move from his spot on the threshold. Instead, his narrow eyes took her in from head to toe, and she would have been thrilled if he didn't appear to be more suspicious than interested.

"What is it?"

"I've been ordered away for the evening along with most of the royal guard. I'm placing one of the new men on your door. I have not personally vetted him."

Relena glared up at Heero. "Is this your way of telling me you don't trust him?"

Heero gave a curt nod.

"Are you INSANE?" Relena shrieked.

"No."

"That was a rhetorical question. Do you realize the danger you are putting me in? Not only could this man not protect me properly, but he could also have nefarious intentions about my person. You do realize I can't run as fast as I used to, or even kick out to protect myself, right?"

Heero's jaw clenched tightly. "I would like permission to lock the door to your chamber."

"You want to lock me in?" Relena asked, taken back. "Like a prisoner?"

"You just proved you understand the danger."

"What if there's a fire? What if that thief sneaks in my window?"

"Which is a more acceptable risk?"

"Get out," Relena seethed, pointing to the door. Heero complied without question, making her more furious. "And lock the door behind you!"

Once Heero was out of her sight, the lock clicking ominously after him, Relena had to reign in the urge to swear loudly and throw something breakable at him. It took a few minutes for her rage to turn into annoyance, and double that time for her to realize the implications of a task-force of soldiers out on the street tonight of all nights. Milliardo knows, the intuitive part of her brain whispered. She stood, pacing back and forth across her floor as she thought. If he did know about the meeting, he wouldn't need all his army currently in the city in order to stop the proceedings. That meant that he probably didn't know the exact location.

But she did, and not only did she know exactly where it was taking place, she also knew enough information that she could probably warn them in time to get away from the King's men. Obstructing her brother in this one small thing would help sooth the sting caused by him foiling the victory of a group meeting. She dressed quickly in black pants and a dark shirt, adrenaline allowing her to quickly pull the body-sized pillow out of her wardrobe and arranging it on her bed without her shoulder protesting too much. She artistically placed the wig at the top of the fake body, pulling the blankets up so it looked like she was huddled under them, with a few tendrils sticking out. It wouldn't fool anyway at close range, but from far enough away and in the dark, it passed as her sleeping form.

Heero had ensured that she would probably not need to worry about it tonight. No one would expect her to get in and out of her bedchambers with the door locked from the outside.

With a self-satisfied smile, Relena dropped to her stomach and wriggled her way under her bed. She lifted a section of the floor three boards high, dragging the partition away from hole it revealed. She fell in head-first, crawling her way through the tight passage under the floor until she reached the hidden corridor in the walls, leading down into the hidden bowels of the castle. Half way down a flight of stairs, she ran her hand along the wall, stopping once her fingers met empty space. She reached into the dark, always vaguely worried her fingers would meet some rabid animal hidden in the absence of light. Instead, they met cloth like they were supposed to.

Relena shrouded herself with her cloak, carefully continuing down the rough stairs. At the end, she followed the right branch, knowing it would bring her out beneath the burned shell of the old alehouse. She was careful, listening and watching for anyone who might notice her slipping between the shadows. Once she had taken all the precautions for her safety she could, she relied on luck to bring her out of the tunnel without someone lying in wait for her. It was a risk every time, as she wasn't sure if her brother was aware of the network of passageways beneath the castle, and it would easy for him to post a guard at the exits.

Crouched, Relena listened for the slightest noise of warning of another presence and didn't find anything to cause her worry. As silently as possible, she replaced the cover to the tunnel, then swiftly left the old ruins. The town was silent, candlelight flickering in a few windows, and Relena knew that somewhere the castle guards were searching for the secret meeting. She had the advantage over them, for she knew exactly where it was located.

Navigating the streets was easy for Relena, despite the damaged muscle in her shoulder. She surveyed the church from across the street, noticing that it appeared empty from the outside. As she drew closer, she could hear the slight murmur of voices.

"A woman ruler would have compassion. Our children wouldn't be starvin' if Relena was queen."

"But would she last for long? You've seen her. Word is she just spent the week sick in bed. At least King Milliardo won't die on us."

"Aye," part of the crowd agreed.

"People, people!" Duo cried from his pulpit. "We are not here to debate her efficiency as ruler. Right before he died the old king declared Relena his heir apparent. It was witnessed by the new king, two guards, and a priest. If their father could see the good she would do for our country, then who are we to deny her her right as Queen?"

A chill went down Relena's spine, and she stepped forward, boldly walking down the center aisle of the church. Her cloak swished around her ankles like the hem of a dress, but the hood stayed firmly affixed to her head. She stopped in the center of the cathedral, her darkness a striking figure. "The King has sent his royal guard out. They are coming." Her voice rang clearly through the room, all eyes upon her. She felt the urge to throw back her head and allow them to see her face. Now she knew. She was Queen.

The crowd spoke in nervous whispers, eyeing her distrustfully. Relena cast her eyes around, recognizing a few faces of people she had known from her past. She didn't see Trowa, though Hilde had told her how Duo had practically jumped forward with his plan upon learning his old comrade was back in the city.

"This is the woman who stole the King's crown," Duo pronounced.

That was wrong, Relena realized for the first time. The crown had been stolen from her. "Look," Relena told the crowd. "I don't care if you can't trust me, but believe me when I say that I have excellent connections that can't be spoken of. At this very moment Captain Yuy is leading his men on a search of the city for a meeting of traitors. None of you can afford the price paid to be captured. Not even Princess Relena could save you from the hours of torture and execution. ESPECIALLY not her."

A few people got up and left, while others looked at Duo for guidance. He nodded to them, and they also fled the church. All that remained were a few stubborn individuals, and Relena realized they were probably her most ardent supporters. These people were the ones who would be behind her no matter what, and if she didn't manage to get them out now, they were unsaveable.

Relena turned to Duo for help. "Why won't you leave?"

"We owe it to the cause not to give up. We'd all die for the Princess."

Relena stalked up the rest of the aisle towards him. "You'll leave her alone with no support?"

Duo hesitated, "no."

"Make them leave," she appealed.

"We'll be the first movement of resistance! The King will know—"

"I can't save you!" Relena yelled, grabbing her hood and dragging it away from her face. Duo's eyes were on her as the door burst open and an army of heavy boots trampled in. Relena backed into the shadows, pulling the hood back over her face.

"You're all under arrest on the order of his majesty King Milliardo on the charge of treason, conspiring against the crown, meeting in a public place."

"Soldiers," Duo appealed, "we are simply a congregation mourning the passing of a beloved member of our community."

"Bullshit! You were talking to someone just a moment ago. Who were you speaking to?"

"God."

"Search the place," the officer in charge ordered, gesturing to a few of the men with him to go right while others went left. Relena decided that it was time for her to depart. There was nothing she could do now, and getting caught herself would be one of the worst possible things to happen. Imagine, capturing the princess at the meeting to put her in power. It would make the charges of conspiracy and treason irrefutable as well as ruin her entire plan. She slipped back into the shadows, moving carefully and quietly as she jumped, grabbing one of the support beams for the roof. She swung up into the eaves, her shoulder screaming in protest as she used the wounded muscles. She moved her way over the beams, running quickly to the other side of the building and hoping that no one looked up and raised an alarm. Relena made it to the small circular window set in the stone wall and gently unhinged the glass, setting it carefully on the wood behind her. She said a quick prayer to the deities for forgiveness and then slipped through the small opening and onto the church roof.

Relena stayed crouched high above the parade of soldiers as they dragged their prisoners away from the church. Watching as Duo proudly accepted his arrest while others struggled around him caused tears to fall down her face, landing softly on the tiles beneath her feet. She didn't leave until long after the procession had departed. The walk back to the alehouse was solemn, and the rescue plans in her head grew more and more complex and impossible, until the weight of expectations pressed in on her. In the blackness beneath the castle, she broke into sobs, wishing that she had someone to take her burden for only a second.


	8. Traitor

_Chapter 7: Traitor_

"I'm tired," she said wearily, raising her pale face to stare at Heero. Relena scrubbed at her eyes with her palm. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. You probably got less sleep than I did."

"I don't need sleep."

Relena refrained from shaking her head and telling him everyone needed sleep. She also didn't ask him the question pressing against her mind: why was it so urgent that her brother see her now? Did one of the prisoners cave under torture and implicate her? What she did say was the most innocent foray into the topic she could think of. "I hear that you arrested a sect of traitors last night. That's a major accomplishment, Captain."

Heero grunted.

"And yet, you do not seem pleased."

"The threat to the King's life is persistent. It will not be stopped by a few arrests." Heero's jaw tightened and Relena could see he was reaching the point to stop talking altogether.

"It would seem to me that you need to take out the ringleader."

He paused in his answer long enough, that Relena knew he was editing the information she would receive. "We'll have a name shortly."

She straightened the material of her dress, watching him from the corner of her eye. He had insisted on allowing one of his guards push her chair, and Relena was unsure what it meant that he wanted to be able to observe her. "So soon," she asked with a forced naivety. "But surely they wouldn't give up such important information so easily."

"Undergoing torture is not easy."

Relena tensed, forgetting how blunt Heero could sometimes be. Other people would have hedged around the issue, not giving her a direct response, but not Heero. "Torture," she whispered. "I had heard rumours that brother had turned one of the banquet halls into a room of pain, but I hadn't believed it. I had assumed that no kin of mine would enjoy—" Relena switched topics mid-sentence, unsure if she would be able to continue defending her bloodline with what she knew. "Is that where you are taking me?"

"For observational purposes only."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better about it?" Relena asked, her stomach churning at the thought of witnessing someone else's pain, and unable to do anything. Her distaste grew as she realized that it was technically her fault they were even in that position to begin with. Milliardo was looking for them to implicate her, she knew, and for her to see what he did to them to reach that conclusion would be an added bonus to the frosted cake of delight he was currently experiencing. At the door Heero took charge of her chair, wheeling her into the room. The light was dim, but she could see a figure stretched out on a rack. He wasn't facing her, but he was definitely male, and Relena had the horrifying suspicion that it was Duo. "Stop," she requested, grabbing the wheels of her chair so Heero would be forced to comply. Her hand slipped over the wet surface, and she snatched it away, coughing and gagging at the blood on her palms.

Heero stood behind her and awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Ah! Relena's here!" Milliardo exclaimed. "What's the matter sister? You act modest, but I know you've seen a naked man before."

Anger flared, tempering the nausea so she was able to look him in the eye. She had a quick retort on her tongue, but she knew that if she said 'probably still less than you', it would only serve to infuriate him. It cost her, but she was able to look away without uttering a word. "Why am I here?"

"Why are you here?" Milliardo snapped. "Do you want to know what this man has been saying about you?"

"Not really," Relena said with disinterest. "I don't know what any of this has to do with me. Obviously you want me to react. Do you want to know what I think? I'm disgusted that my own brother would do this to another human being. The floor is covered in blood. I want to throw up."

"He says that he's a member of a group of rebels trying to put you on the throne."

"Is that so?" Relena said coldly. "We both knew that it was a possibility there were people like that out there. Excuse me," Relena wheeled her chair around her brother, stopping it in front of the torture rack so she was level with the man's face. She was relieved to find it wasn't Duo, but that didn't lessen her pity and horror. "Do you know who I am?"

The man groaned, wetting his bloodied lips with his tongue. "Angel," he hissed through the pain.

"What is it you want to know, specifically," she asked Milliardo. "Or are you just torturing him for the fun of it."

"When they plan to assassinate me."

"Listen to me," she told the man softly, making sure her words were soothing but also audible to the rest of the room. "Is there a plan to assassinate the king? This is important."

"No. No plan."

"No?"

"Not yet. Waiting."

"Waiting for what? An opportunity?"

"A plan."

"Get her out of here!" Milliardo stormed. "She's confusing the suspect."

"I think," Relena responded sharply, "that severe blood loss did that for me."

Milliardo glared at her for a moment, and then waved her out of his sight with a movement of his wrist. Blood splattered against the white sleeve of her arm, and Relena swallowed against the bile rising in her throat. "Oh God," she breathed, once out in the cleaner air of the hallway. "Oh God, that's horrible. How can he do that to another living person?"

Heero rolled her chair into the courtyard outside, parking it in the sun and allowing her to get her stomach under control. Relena squinted at his darkened silhouette against the sun. "What answers did he expect to get with me there?"

"Ones he is having trouble getting."

"Maybe people can't tell him what he wants to hear because it isn't the truth," Relena said hotly. "I never, ever want to see my people chained up like that again."

"Be careful," Heero warned.

"Stop it," Relena railed. "I realize that it was an inappropriate thing to say, but I have trouble dealing with the sight of so much needless blood. Doesn't anything bother you?"

Heero looked into the sun, his back straight against her line of sight. "Yes," he said, stopping there.

She sighed. "Can you get Hilde? I want to take a walk around the courtyard, maybe up to the cliffs, and I know you don't have the time to push me around all afternoon."

Heero nodded, "I'll send someone to find her," he promised, gesturing one of guards positioned in front of the castle gates over to him with a slight head nod. While they conversed, Relena allowed herself a moment of relief. She couldn't remember Hilde as one of the ones captured the night before, but she hadn't been sure. She thought about asking Heero whether it was possible she was in the jail with her husband, as she was sure Heero was aware of the relationship between her maid and the chief instigator of last night's party, but Relena wasn't sure if that piece of information was something Heero admitted to knowing.

"Thank you," she told him once Heero returned to her side. "I don't feel like being cooped up inside right now. Remember how I used to run through the garden barefoot, and father would scold me?" Relena reminisced with a smile.

"I recall you slicing your foot open," he responded tersely, as though this small bit of conversation was too much for him.

Relena grinned. "And you had to carry me back to the castle. My father didn't know whether to reward you for your service or have you flogged for touching me 'inappropriately'." Relena chuckled, laughing harder at the tensed lock of his jaw. "Inappropriately," she repeated. "God, that was funny. If he thought that was inappropriate, he should have been there the time—"

"I would have lost a hand."

"At the least!" she pronounced with an amused clap, and she was the only one who thought it funny. "Oh, Heero," she said with a sigh, "that was a long time ago. The incident shouldn't still put you on eggshells."

"Here's Hilde," Heero said. Just the fact he said the words instead of keeping silent and allowing the woman to approach told Relena how desperately he wanted to change the subject.

"So you kissed me," Relena said, trying to keep the mischievous smile off her face as Hilde's eyebrows winged up in surprise and Heero glowered. "It was very nice at the time, but it doesn't mean much anymore."

"I think it means a lot that Captain Yuy has kissed anyone, ever." Hilde spoke up, looking between the two of them. "Let alone a princess."

Heero turned the full force of his glare on Hilde for a moment, and then refocused on Relena. "I am sure his majesty is looking for me."

"I'm sure he's pretty preoccupied putting leaches on someone's eyeball right now to care," Relena told him frankly. "But go ahead and check now that you're uncomfortable." She blew him a kiss, giving him a small fingerwave as he stalked away.

"He kissed you?" Hilde asked, pushing the chair over the gravel walkway leading around the inner yard of the castle.

"It was a lifetime ago. Before," she paused, "everything."

"Someone occasionally told me stories about the how the Obsidian Knights were back when your father was alive," Hilde's voice barely wavered when she referred to Duo, though there was an underlying tension in her tone. "He joked that Heero was a lot less hardened after the group disbanded."

Relena was about to agree, and then listened to the words over again in her head. "Oh my God," she said with a snort, starting to laugh uncontrollably. Hilde stared in confusion and then laughed along once she got the joke. Her laughter turned to tears, and she crouched beside the wheelchair, her knuckles going white where she gripped the arm. "It's ok," Relena soothed, allowing Hilde to hide her face in the voluminous layers of her skirt. "He'll be fine," Relena promised in a low voice.

"How can you know?" Hilde wailed. "I've heard rumours of what goes on in that room. He won't be fine ever again."

"He's stronger than he lets on," Relena said, though the words sounded hollow to her ears as well. "I bet at this very moment, he's worried for you, probably wondering if you made it out or not."

"I would have stayed with him," Hilde whispered. "He asked me to stay in the other room and guard the crown. He had this big entrance planned where he would bring it in and announce that the crown of Cinq was in our hands."

"Hmm," Relena muttered, urging Hilde to continue.

"When you came in and announced the trap, I fled. I thought he'd have the sense to leave."

"A lot of people didn't," Relena said soothingly. "What's done is done, and I'm glad you're safe. I need someone to help me. This is what we're going to do—"

.xXx.

"Do you think she's guilty?" Milliardo asked, turning his back on the window. "I was sure if I pushed her hard enough, she'd admit it to stop someone else's torture."

"She's unpredictable, sir."

"So are you, when she's involved. Has she done anything suspicious?"

Heero remained silent.

"Your first loyalty is to me, dammit!"

"The princess does not trust you, but I have not heard her speak of wishing you removed from power."

"She doesn't trust me?" Milliardo mused, throwing himself into a chair with a graceful ease. "I suppose that is something I can't blame her for. You may go back to your duty of guarding her, Yuy."

"Yes sir," Heero responded, his back ruler straight as he saluted.

"But remember," Milliardo said coldly as Heero turned his back on the king. "You owe your allegiance to me."

"I am aware," Heero responded uncharacteristically, "of where my allegiance lies."

.xXx.

"Damn you, you traitor!" Duo yelled, his hands grasped around the thick iron bars of his cell. He spat the words at the man standing in freedom, not noticing the irony of the traitor betraying the ones arrested for treason. "I'm going to get you for this."

"You are in no position to 'get me'," Trowa responded calmly. "If you do not confess, the king is eager for a public execution."

Duo stared at Trowa slack-jawed as the man casually sauntered away, his words sounding remarkably like a warning. "Just whose side are you on, anyway?" he yelled as the door to the prison closed heavily, leaving Duo to the darkness, the moans of his fellow prisoners, and the rats.

A few minutes later Trowa slid silently into the room, his skills as a master thief allowing him to pass unnoticed through the hallways. He remained standing, casually observing until the other person looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. "It's done," he said laconically. "The plan is proceeding as arranged."

"Excellent."

©RelenaFanel.March15.2008


	9. Disappearing

**Cloak and Dagger**

**Chapter 8**

Relena sat quietly at the supper table, her hands clasped tightly on her lap. She barely touched her food, the fruity scent of decaying blood still heavy in her nasal cavities. She thought that she had spent enough time out in the clean air to wash away the scent of torture and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but seeing her brother laughing and presiding over the supper table brought it back in a wash of nausea so extreme she had clasp a hand over her mouth and pant in order to keep from vomiting. Milliardo had looked at her, toasting her with his wineglass, and drained the rich red liquid in a single gulp.

It was no wonder the food in front of her was as unappealing as moat sludge. She was seated between two of the king's advisors, and Relena was aware of the tight ranks between two of the men she had tried to implicate for treason. She was unsure whether her brother had done so on purpose, or if these men even knew, but she felt closed in, trapped with no escape, and she couldn't help but wonder if it was deliberate. It was easy to be suspicious of Milliardo, but far more difficult to give him the benefit of the doubt, or at least mere coincidence.

Out of the corner of her eye, Relena watched Heero as he silently ate a forkful of beef.

"Sister," the king called out from his position at the head of the table. Relena jerked, turning her head towards him with what felt like alarmed guilt. She hoped it looked more like she was startled.

"Yes Milliardo?" she asked sweetly, her nails digging into her palms as she tried for a look of innocence.

"Are you feeling well?" he asked, gesturing towards her plate. "You've barely touched your food."

In another time, he would have been asking out of concern for her health, and a small part of her wanted to believe that he honestly was. The rational side of Relena could see the game he was playing with her. "I'm feeling a little ill," she conceded, seeing that there was no way that she could claim to be fine when he had just openly drawn attention to the fact she wasn't.

"Well!" Milliardo pronounced. "I have an announcement that will cheer you up. We're hanging the traitors tomorrow!"

Relena definitely felt worse.

"So soon? What information could you get in a day?"

"Who said that," Milliardo demanded, his attention snapping away from her and towards the rest of the room. "Are you questioning your king?"

Everyone grew silent, staring steadily at their plates. Relena could see that the court was divided on whether they agreed, but none of them wanted to challenge Milliardo's opinion, especially when the subject already was on traitors. She could feel her stomach clench tightly in horror, but she didn't speak up and she didn't question. It was a full minute after Milliardo's attention was distracted by something one of the ladies by his side whispered to him that Relena allowed herself to look at Heero for his reaction. She could remember him and Duo being close, and she knew he must feel at least a fraction of the regret she did.

It surprised her greatly to find he was no longer at the table, though she couldn't recall seeing him move away from his seat. She had been watching him from the corner of her eye all evening, but she hadn't notice him leave. In fact, the last time she had seen him had been just before Milliardo had approached her with his little piece of news. It didn't really surprise her that Heero had used the distraction to sneak away. She would use one herself if she thought it would work. Instead, she remained seated, picking at a piece of bread with her fingers until it was decimated into a pile of tell-tale crumbs in her lap.

Half an hour later, once Milliardo had dismissed himself for other pursuits and the sauce covering the food on her plate had gelatinated into a mass gob of fat, Relena was finally able to slip away from the table unnoticed.

As one of the servants pushed her chair through the corridors, Relena was grateful that she hadn't insisted Hilde stay by her side through mealtimes. She couldn't imagine the scene the other woman would have made upon finding out her husband was sentenced to be executed on the morrow. Relena hoped that she could control the circumstances and gently break the news to Hilde herself instead of one of the other hired help passing on the sensational gossip.

"Thank you," she told the man pushing her chair as he approached the door to her bedroom. "I can take it from here." This servant knew better than to question her orders, for as soon as the words exited her mouth, she was left in the middle of the hallway a few feet from her door. She made a mental note to time it better next time, and rolled the chair up the last few feet. Opening her bedroom door was slightly more difficult, but she managed it with what was hopefully a subtle nudge from her foot.

"Is it true," Hilde demanded, approaching quickly from where she had been standing in front of the fireplace. For a moment Relena felt the irrational urge to reprimand her for showing her grief. For the second time that day, Hilde collapsed at Relena's feet, grabbing her slim hand urgently as she spoke. "He'll be hanged tomorrow?"

"Yes," Relena said quietly. "It's true."

"And you didn't do anything," Hilde accused, face turning from grief to fierce rage.

"That's true too," Relena said, pulling her hand away quickly. "I'm in no position to question his authority in such a matter. It serves me – and your husband – better if I'm complacent." Relena had to move her head back quickly to avoid Hilde's swing. She grabbed the brunette's arm, standing up and using the forward motion to trip Hilde to the ground. "Do not forget who you are speaking to," Relena hissed next to Hilde's ear, pushing her arm and stepping away from the scene. Relena grabbed a book off her shelf, arranging herself on the chaise in her sitting room and adopting an air of indifference. "You may go home for the rest of the evening if you wish," Relena said dismissively. "But I plan to go out later if you wish to stay.

.xXx.

It was the dead of the night before Relena moved out of bed, carefully listening to the noises around her. An hour after midnight the castle quieted down considerably as the night staff finished their rounds, and the day staff all stumbled back to barracks from a night at the tavern. When the only noise she could hear was the scurry of rats in the walls, she finally crawled under her bed and into the tunnels. Instead of turning towards the outer perimeter of the castle, she turned inwards towards the bowels, where things were forgotten and death permeated the air.

She knew of tunnels scratched out by hand, leading to cells within the jail, and as she bypassed these, she could smell the scent of rotting flesh and human waste even through stone. Relena ignored these passageways because some were even too narrow for her to fit through, and a healthy man would get hopelessly stuck. She also didn't use them because she didn't want the secret to be given away. Her heavy cloak protected her skin from the shocking drip of liquids, and the clammy slime of the walls and floor, but still she was chilled.

When Relena emerged from under the floor, she was a few feet away from the guard post in front of the cells. As she had arranged, the guards were sleeping off the cocktail of drugs she had put in their mead, but she was still incredibly careful as she slipped forward out from beneath the staircase leading downwards into the jail from the cellar of the castle. There wasn't even a whisper of sound besides the slight snore of one of the guards, and she moved forward rapidly, eager to complete her rescue mission and disappear into the walls. She was confident as she reached for the keys conveniently hanging on a hook outside the door.

So it came as a shock to her when someone hit her from behind, propelling her forward into the cold stone wall with a painful thump. She was sure her nose was broken from the sharp pain which exploded along her nasal bone. She remained silent as she was checked for weapons, thankful her hood hadn't shifted from her face, but she was sure it didn't matter. She wasn't aware of many people who could move that silently and quickly, and unless he had gotten rusty, her brother was one of them. She closed her eyes in shame, realizing that this whole thing had to be a trap as a hand gripped her shoulder, flipping her over in one sharp movement so her back was against the wall.

Relena had time to open her mouth in shock as she recognized Heero standing before her. "Fool," he hissed, lips crashing down on hers with a shocking intensity which hadn't been present in their last kiss. He bruised her mouth, and Relena was powerless against him. Her fingers grasped at his shoulder as he eased back, giving her lips one last, shockingly gentle taste. "Half the armed guard is waiting for you in there," he warned in a hushed voice, disappearing back into the shadows.

In the moment it took her to catch her wits, he managed to allude her, vanishing without detection just like he arrived. Torn, she glanced between the door to the jail and freedom, wondering if it was possible that Heero was lying. Anything was possible, she decided, especially after a kiss like that, but she was sure that this time he wasn't trying to mislead her. She followed quickly behind him in disappearing from the small corridor, aware that he was watching as she slid back into the hole beneath the stairs like a small rodent. It wasn't until she was blanketed in darkness, skulking away from her failed mission, did she realize that her hood was still firmly balanced over her face.

Unless Heero made it a habit of kissing cloaked vigilantes, he had already known who she was.

When, she wondered, had he figured it out? It was something she didn't have the luxury to dwell on, though that kiss wouldn't get off her mind. Half an hour later she crawled under her bed, utterly exhausted and spent from two long nights, and stayed sprawled on the floor for a moment, listening to her own harsh breath. She didn't know how she was going to come up with a new, workable plan in the hours of night she had left before the execution at dawn. Relena sniffed, barely keeping tears from flowing from her eyes. She didn't have time, and she didn't have the resources backing her anymore, but life would be a million times worse if her supporters were all killed off, and the ones left went into hiding out of fear.

Relena fell asleep where she was lying, her hand curled around the cuff of her dark, dirty outfit. When she awoke a few hours later it was still dark beneath the bed, and she was disoriented by the fact she felt refreshed when the world was still in night. It took her a moment to realize that the strange block of light in her vision was really coming from the open window and that she had slept in.

Relena gasped, banging her head sharply against the underside of the bed. "Did you hear that?" Someone asked.

"Yes," Hilde answered, "this room sometimes gets the noise from the kitchen during meal times. That's why you didn't set your mistress up in here."

Milliardo snorted. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. When my sister wakes up, tell her I want her by my side during the festivities." The tread of Milliardo's feet was heavy next to her head, and Relena realized that his approach must have been what woke her. "Come, Barton."

"I believe there is a small mouse under the bed," Trowa said quietly to Hilde, before he too moved from the room. It was discerning to hear him leave, Relena realized as she watched the two pair of feet leave the room from her vantage point. Milliardo walked with nothing to hide, but Trowa was soundless.

Hilde dropped to her knees, peering under the bed. Relena smiled sheepishly, and Hilde yipped and scrambled backwards.

Relena rolled out from under the bed, stumbling to her feet with some help from nearby furniture. She caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror, and winced at the heavy layer of grime over her face, an especially suspicious smear over her cheek.

"You smell disgusting," Hilde criticized, disapproval written over her features. "I was under the impression you were going to get Duo and the others out before the execution."

"It was a trap," Relena informed her, dabbing a clean cloth into the water and scrubbing at her face. "Do you think you could order a bath for me?"

"Do you think you could pretend to care?" Hilde retorted. "Everyone is under the impression that you're some kind of selfless goddess, and here you're worried about your looks when my husband is abou –."

Relena threw down her wet wash cloth. "Are you implying that I'm being selfish? You heard what my brother said. Do you think you could take a moment away from your own self absorption to realize that if I show up at the hangings covered in dirt that Milliardo will find out I can get out of this chair and order me a bath?" Relena finished, picking the soiled cloth up and tossing it out the window. It was less for effect than it was covering her tracks. She didn't want anyone to be able to trace dirty rags back to her room. She also knew she wouldn't be able to risk her bathwater turning murky when she sat in it.

Hilde huffed away, not realizing how lucky she was that Relena was a selfless person who understood grief. Relena scrubbed herself clean, removing her thief outfit and changing into a white nightgown before Hilde could return. The scent of moat water and decay still clung to her skin, and Relena knew that the bath was necessary if a waste of her time.

She allowed the servants who brought in the tub to transfer her from the bed into the water. The entire time she impatiently kept still, wishing she could pace off the nervous energy. Once she was alone in her room, the warmth of the tub dispelling the cold stiffness of her muscles from the chilly tunnels and her subsequent nap beneath the bed, Relena was finally able to think. She had planned to get the prisoners out of jail long before the actual hanging, but now that it was no longer possible, she wondered what was left.

She could, she supposed, send Hilde in as a decoy in her place and hope Miliardo didn't notice that the female by his side was not his sister. Then, she could dress up in her Justitia costume and use her bow and arrow to shoot down the ropes. If the only problem with that plan was the fact that she probably couldn't disable all the ropes in one shot, then she would have been lucky. As it was, there was a possibility that Milliardo would want them hanged one by one and then she would have to combat the guards. Or she could miss the ropes altogether and have an even greater dilemma.

Relena sighed, drawing her knees up to her chest. Her nightshift constricting around her legs reminded her that she wasn't supposed to be moving them, but there was no one around to notice, and she wasn't sure if she cared anymore. She felt vulnerable, like she had failed at everything already, though in truth she still had time. She kept her head on her knees until the wet material turned cool against her forehead. She didn't look up as the door to her bedroom opened with barely a creak and then closed again without any other noise.

"It was a trap," she murmured against the damp clothing. "I didn't even get in."

"How did you find out?" Trowa asked, taking a seat in her wheelchair. He took a moment to allow it to roll backwards, then scooted forward into the same position it had been in, his eyes on the wheels with interest.

Relena looked sharply up at him. "You didn't send him to warn me?"

Trowa stopped mentally calculating the construction of the chair and met her gaze. "Who?"

"Heero," Relena told him. "He was lying in wait for me when I reached the cellar corridor, and he practically tackled me before I could enter the jail. He told me that almost the entire guard was in there waiting for someone to try something."

Trowa paused in thought. "I didn't hear about that. I'll look into it."

Relena's head snapped back in surprise. "Are you saying that there might not have been a trap at all?"

Trowa remained silent.

"Why would he stop me, then?"

"There may have been a trap, just not the one he warned you about," Trowa said finally. He stood, the chair rolling away behind him. He turned to look at it, not familiar with things moving when he didn't want them to.

"What am I going to do," Relena moaned, allowing her head to fall back onto her knee.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Relena asked, turning sharply to look at him. "We can't just let all those people die. They're yours just as much as they are mine." He had recruited her to her own army, after all, back when she was still struggling to walk after her 'accident'. Trowa had been the one who gave her a reason to get stronger.

"Nothing," Trowa reaffirmed, silently slipping out her door. Relena's bathwater was now cold and she was back to smelling like her normal self, but the stench of death was still hanging on the air.

©RelenaFanel.May2.2008


End file.
